THEMATIC SESSION #11

Emanuele Tauro

IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italy

• emanuele.tauro@polimi.it

Enrico Gianluca Caiani

Polytechnic of Milan, Italy

• enrico.caiani@polimi.it

The integration of Virtual and eXtended Reality (VR/XR) technologies in biomedicine has enabled the development of controllable and reproducible environments, opening new opportunities in research for the assessment of stress, behavior and psychophysiological responses. These technologies offer immersive settings that facilitate precise manipulation of stimuli, real-time adaptation to user behavior and responses, and the creation of safe environments for exposure-based assessments, improving the reliability and ecological validity of behavioral, psychological and stress-related evaluations.

This thematic session aims to explore novel methodologies and approaches for assessing mental health, stress responses, behavioral patterns and cognitive performance using VR/XR systems. Topics will include the analysis of physical and psychological response to simulated stimuli, stress induction and regulation paradigms, and cognitive behavioral analysis in immersive environments.

Discussions will focus on current technical and methodological challenges, emerging opportunities, and future directions for translating VR/XR assessment tools into research and applied contexts. Particular focus will be given to personalized assessment protocols, remote and scalable evaluations, and tailored interventions. The session aims to bring together engineers, human-computer interaction researchers, psychologists and clinicians to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and advance VR/XR-based assessment of stress and behavior.

The list of topics includes (but is not limited to) the following:

• Stress and psychophysiological state recognition in immersive VR/XR environments;
• Measuring physiological and behavioral responses to virtual stimuli;
• Cognitive and behavioral assessments using XR technologies;
• Personalized mental health interventions in VR/XR;
• Development of adaptive virtual environments;
• Remote assessment of stress through VR/XR platforms;
• Presentation of adaptive and context-aware stimuli in immersive settings;
• Real-time and post-analysis of stress and psychophysiological responses in VR/XR;
• Ethical considerations in VR/XR-based mental health evaluations;
• Exposure-based assessment of stress and coping strategies in VR/XR;
• AI-driven customization for stress and behavioral assessments in VR/XR;
• Multimodal data integration in VR/XR Settings;
• VR/XR tools for stress monitoring and regulation;
• Enhancing assessment precision with immersive technologies;
• User trust, usability and acceptance of VR/XR assessment solutions.